Survivors and relatives of those killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida are calling out the NRA’s hypocrisy after the lobbying organization for gun manufacturers announced that guns will be banned from Mike Pence’s speech at the NRA’s upcoming leadership conference in Dallas next month, according to an article on ThinkProgress.

“Due to the attendance of the Vice President of the United States, the U.S. Secret Service will be responsible for event security at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum. As a result, firearms and firearm accessories, knives or weapons of any kind will be prohibited in the forum prior to and during his attendance,” a statement on the NRA’s website says.

One of the Parkland shooting survivors who has been among the most recognizable faces of the #NeverAgain movement, Cameron Kasky, saw the post on the NRA website and tweeted out a copy of the statement and this comment.

Fred Guttenberg, the father of slain student Jaime Guttenberg, retweeted Kasky’s remarks on the ironic situation and turned one of the group’s own talking points back on the NRA.

On so many levels, this is enlightening. According to the NRA, we should want everyone to have weapons when we are in public. But when they put on a convention, the weapons are a concern? I thought giving everyone a gun was to enhance safety. Am I missing something? https://t.co/f4wgNhJ7RI

Apparently when the safety of the Vice-President is concerned, a good secret service agent with a gun is no match for a convention center filled with armed NRA members, and this is in a room filled with supporters of the administration.

Why the double standard when it comes to the safety of Mike Pence versus the safety of every other citizen in the country? Does the vice-president have a magic vulnerability to gun fire that the rest of us are immune to? Or does the banning of weapons at their leadership forum really mean that the NRA is peddling a cynically false message to rev up the gun sales of the arms merchants who gave the organization the mission keep their business thriving?

Even registered NRA members planning on attending the forum saw the hypocrisy in the announcement and expressed their displeasure of having to face Pence and his secret service detail unarmed.

Obviously protecting the VP and NRA officials is far more important than protecting the lives of "ordinary" citizens from the increased potential for gun violence when any social situation is overflowing with lethal weapons.

Yes, the NRA and the Trump administration want your children to sit in schools with armed teachers because they believe that guns will protect the students, but they’re not willing to put their theory to the test with their own lives. What does that tell you about the truth of their theory and about whose protection is prioritised in this society?

Luckily the NRA delivers grades to politicians to indicate how well they support the gun lobby agenda. You can make sure to check the NRA ratings of any politician running in your district in the November midterms and simply vote against anyone with a grade better than an F.